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Photo Project: Working with Frames

leo castillo photoworks.jpg

Yesterday concluded the end of our six day workshop for Batch 25 of Photoworks! I learned a lot from Leo Castillo and my classmates. It is a class I am recommending to those who would want to learn how to develop an eye for photography with (relatively) not a lot of technical information.

To cap it off, I’d like to do a case study of one of my photo projects where I had to print something using emphasis with frames. I already had the initial shot in mind, to take my dog peeping through the spokes of our calesa in the garden. The problem was how to make him sit still whilst I focused.

Here’s what I did. I turned off auto focus and manually focused on the wheel with my 50mm prime lens. My dog doesn’t have a very long neck so I would assume that he would be on the same focal length as the wheel. I propped the 350D on the tripod and used an RC-1 remote control. What I did was to take the orange ball and put it in between the spokes so that Hondo (my Boston) would try to get it. I was on top of him at the time, firing the shutter every second.

I guess that this goes to show how hard it is to photograph pets. Not only do you need to get down to their level, but you also need to show some form of engagement and be able to freeze that action. I only had one good shot out of about 20.

I was shooting with an ISO of 100 which I realize now made the shot harder because it bumped my shutter speed to 1/20 which is hard for pet shots, especially when they move fast. Thank God he stayed still for once.

hondo with ball.jpg

Click on the image to view.
ISO 100 f/1.8 1/20

You can view my EXIF data here.

By Jayvee Fernandez

Jayvee Fernandez is a tech enthusiast and sitting Techbology Editor for The Philippine STAR.

He is also an EAN certified SCUBA Diver and underwater photographer based in Metro Manila, Philippines. His photos and videos have appeared in various international and local publications including Random House Germany, Discovery Channel Canada, and CNN.

8 replies on “Photo Project: Working with Frames”

you can actually attend this class with just a point and shoot camera 🙂 but you can also use film and digital slrs.

[…] When shooting, try covering the lens with your dark jacket or any dark cloth. Press and hold the shutter and “paint” what you want to see (I must reiterate to thank Anton for this tip). This means that when you see something you want to capture (the full bloom of the fireworks) remove the cloth and cover it once more, quickly. The objective is not to overexpose the fireworks. You know it has been overexposed once you see a lot of white in lets say, a blue or yellow color fireworks. If you have a remote shutter like this one then I suggest you use it to avoid camera shake […]

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